The Conservative spokesman in the European Parliament on Women's Rights and Gender Equality, Julie Girling, has warmly welcomed the Prime Minister's announcement
on new measures to tackle the gender pay gap.

David Cameron has said that companies with more than 250 employees will be required by law to publish the difference between the average pay of their male
and female employees as well as the amount awarded to men and women in bonuses.

The current pay gap in the UK means that women, on average, earn 19% less than men, in real terms this means women earn 80p for every £1 earned by a man-
for doing the same job.

Mrs Girling said: "Tackling the gender pay gap has been a long standing priority for me and my Conservative colleagues and it is something that I have
personally campaigned on for many years.

"Across the whole of the EU, women earn 16.4% less than men for doing a job of equal value, something that is not only morally indefensible, but is against
the law in the UK"

The South West and Gibraltar MEP added, "Conservative MEPs have never shied away from acknowledging that there is a problem when it comes to the gender
pay gap.

"However David Cameron's plans show that we don't need EU diktats to sort out this problem, as it is national governments who are best placed to work with
companies to ensure that they are complying with the rules".